Hello friends,

This new story is kind of a trial for me. If you've read my note before this, you already know. With this story, I have a lot of extra I am going to be doing with it, but I will discuss that and its links more in the next chapter. For now, if you'd like updates on this fic or to follow me as an author (I'm currently trying to edit and publish my first novel. Yay!), you can find me on Twitter/X: RosabelReed

Hope to see you there! :)

Wicking the tears away, Bonnie typed a blurry message into her phone screen.

: We broke up.

Hitting send, she flopped down into the lilac duvet and let the droplets on her cheeks soak into the fabric. The muffled buzz of her phone jerked her head up.

BFF (Best Fanged Friend): Are you alright?

Bonnie would've laughed at the formality of his perfectly punctuated reply if her heart wasn't torn. Because nothing about this was funny. She'd only ever dated the guy to help her forget about Damon. More importantly, Damon's relationship. As if watching him with Elena hadn't been bad enough.

: No

She didn't bother with the period he had asked her to include time and time again. Claiming that her texts were unreadable without them. But the real problem was that he was just old. She wouldn't tell him that unless she wanted her blood siphoned.

Something not all that unpleasant spiraled into her belly at the thought.

BFF (Best Fanged Friend): What happened?

Her face dropped into the fluff of her bed, the scream in her chest welling up her throat. Silent cries squeezed her chest tight as a rubber band, and she was on the verge of snapping.

It didn't matter. It didn't matter. What mattered was that it hadn't worked. Her feelings never went away. The pain never subsided. Now, she had no distraction.

He was a jerk.

The response that came back was faster than the others had been, and she wanted to smile at the picture of his thumbs threatening to break the glass screen as he typed.

BFF (Best Fanged Friend): He didn't harm you?

She tutted. No. Only he could do that.

: Just with words.

Her distraction of a few months had told her how boring she was.

Rude.

But Bonnie couldn't deny its root in the truth. She blew him off all the time, she never wanted to go out, and she hardly ever gave him physical attention. It wasn't that he was awful, he just wasn't who she pictured when they kissed. Behind her eyes, his brown hair had turned black and grown in thick waves; and the lips molding to hers had become fuller, more skilled as they tasted her.

It wasn't like she didn't know Damon's flavor. They'd shared a few kisses before. Just never long enough, never without one obstacle or another.

Resting her cheek on the arms folded under her, she waited for her phone to buzz again. Instead, she got three. Three quick, consecutive buzzes that accompanied a soft jingle mostly sounded by Meredith or telemarketers.

Popping into a seal stretch, she reached for her phone and put it to her ear. "Hello?"

"What did he say?" His voice was gruff under the liquid velvet, like those gourmet chocolate commercials that made your mouth water.

Her tattered heart thumped a little harder. "He just told me I was boring." She sniffed, wiping her nose on the sleeve of her oversized sweater.

"You need me to drain him?"

Bonnie felt the smile fully flourish across the short expanse of her mouth. "No. But I wouldn't mind some company."

There was a sigh. A dreadful sigh that made her chest cave.

"You know I like spending time with you. But Gemma's here. I promised to spend time with her."

It was her turn to sigh. And she did, audibly, letting her shoulders drop with the rest of her body.

"But I need you."

There was something like a tongue click on the other line, and Bonnie's frown stabbed into the corners of her chin.

"You don't need me, Redbird."

His refusal cut her with such sweet slices. Bonnie bit her tongue, muting the cry there, and wiped her cheek of the new tears staining it. How dare he use her pet name in such a way.

"But," he began with a long sigh, "if you do, I can come by tomorrow. Ok?"

It wasn't.

Ever since he'd gotten his Elena-lookalike of a girlfriend, he'd been distant, letting this stranger take precedence over her. Gemma wasn't the one who'd known him for years. Gemma wasn't the one who'd gone through literal hell to save him.

Bonnie scowled into the stitches of the comforter. Back then, he used to kiss her more often. She'd always pondered what they meant, dreaming up scenarios where he confessed some deep-seated love for her like in one of those period dramas. He was old enough to remember those days. But they never came. Maybe they really had meant nothing …

"Bonnie?" He asked, his tone softer, more concerned.

He should be.

Taking the phone from her ear, Bonnie tapped the red "end call" button and tossed her phone aside.

It rang again almost immediately, but she didn't care. Because neither did he. That much was obvious.

The fullness of her cheek bunched under her eye as she laid her head along her forearms. Tears trickled down in slow patterns, all soaking into her sleeves.

Painful silence strangled her heart with the knowledge that she was truly alone when the first ring stopped. Elena was off in Italy building a life with Stefan. Matt was in New York training for his new position in the NFL. Meredith was in her own apartment, always busy with her new job at the law office. And she was just … here. In her sister's house, without enough to leave on her own, working part-time at the bookstore down the road and waiting to hear back from any of the 50 applications she'd sent in.

Her phone's ring jostled her out of her spiral, but she refused its answer once more. Let him be mad. It would be only a fraction of the hurt she felt.

But still, her fingers curled into the duvet, nails scratching the cotton as they took the fabric into her palms. She squeezed against the ache to hear his voice, have him yell at her. It would be better than the lack of emotion he'd already given. Like her problems were beneath his just because he was older and—he certainly wasn't wiser. Bonnie tsked.

He was just old. Old and stupid.

Her shoulders dropped with a heavy sigh. She needed to find some friends her own age.

The phone rang again, on its 3rd time, and Bonnie closed her eyes. Behind them was the last touch of his lips to hers. Gentle and sweet like always. Filled with promise, a potential that never came to fruition.

Back-to-back buzzes replaced her ringtone. Texts coming through at light speed. Bonnie's lips lifted just a little at the thought of his phone's screen shattering.

"Bonnie? You home? I have takeout!" Her sister called from downstairs, fresh off her shift at the hospital.

Wiping her face and clearing her throat of its sorrows, she called back, "Coming!"

Maybe some spring rolls would take her mind off things.

Bouncing off the bottom step and into the kitchen, she pulled out a chair at the rounded table for four. Her sister smiled, dividing out the food she'd gotten. A box of chicken fried rice, a box of spring rolls—her favorite, and a box of house fried rice. The older McCullough tossed her a napkin and a set of plastic cutlery before sitting down beside her.

"How was work?" Bonnie asked, popping the lid and digging a spoon into the pile of fresh rice and veggies.

Mary let out a hard sigh that tapered into a discontented groan. "Busy as always. We had some lady screaming about her epidural. Telling us she needed it, but the baby was already halfway out her coochie! Then one of the doulas some woman had hired was in the room just being a royal bitch! Let me tell you, 'You can't do this, you can't do that', acting all high and mighty. The charge nurse finally just had to usher her out of the room."

Bonnie snickered, smiling to herself. Her sister had always complained about her 10-hour shifts. But four days out of the week, she got up and went to work with a smile on her face. It had always been her dream job.

"How was your day? Hear back from anyone yet?"

The smile on Bonnie's face dropped as she shoved a spoonful of rice in her mouth. "Not yet."

Mary shook her head, spooning her own box of food. "Don't sweat it. It's a hard field, you know? Just keep your head up and keep going."

Bonnie nodded, zoning back into the breakup, the emptiness, Damon.

The butt of Mary's spoon hit the table. Bonnie glanced up to her sister's eyes narrowed in analysis, in suspicion.

"What's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" Bonnie questioned, pressing her lips together.

Mary's eyes rolled. "What happened?"

Sometimes she hated that her sister was clairvoyant. Or clair-whatever. Mary had this uncanny ability to know when something was off from the slightest glance or scratch of the arm. It was … annoying, actually. Was this how Bonnie's friends felt around her?

"Luke broke up with me. Told me I was boring."

The brownish-red brows on her sister's head pinched instead of curving into their usual U's of upset. "That's not why you're sad."

Who was she to say?

Bonnie jabbed her spoon in her rice and turned to her sister. "How can you say that?"

An ironic smile pulled her sister's lips into a wave. "You never even liked Luke. You'd blow him off to go grocery shopping with me."

"That's not true!" Bonnie's mouth hung wide.

"Come on," Mary said through a bite of chicken and rice.

Biting her tongue, Bonnie turned back to her food with a mouthful of insults. Stabbing into the hot center of the rice, she shoveled it in and chewed.

"You tell Damon?" Mary asked, pushing a pea to the side. She'd never much cared for them.

Bonnie nodded, swallowing down the lump in her throat with a glob of vegetables she'd pulverized.

"What'd he say?"

Staring down the spring rolls still in their grease-stained paper bag, she struggled not to glance at the phone she knew was full of his messages. Probably angry ones.

"He doesn't care."

Mary clicked her tongue. "I find that hard to believe."

Since Elena had left for Italy, Damon had become a frequent visitor. First, it was only once a week. They'd watch movies, dance to music while they cooked. She'd educated him on current television. Shown him some of the classics, like The Little Mermaid and Alice in Wonderland. He'd complained the whole time, but she always found him asking questions regardless. Which she'd teased him for.

She'd shown him Korean boy bands and some cool indie artists lesser known. He'd teased her about it but danced along anyways, at least … before turning to his music. 80's rock.

After a while, Damon was coming over multiple times, cooking dinner for them and pretending to be full by the time Mary got home, integrating himself into the household. He'd taught her sister how to season her cast irons and gotten her a Roomba for Christmas, seeing how exhausted she was after work. He'd even become friends with Mary's fiancé, Frank, and played shooting games with him when he was over.

Damon hadn't just grown their friendship, he'd made himself part of the family. And honestly, Mary liked having him around just as much as Bonnie did. Her sister had grown fond of him—and his looks—which she always commented on when they were in private … most of the time.

Bonnie could still hear her claiming how much she liked looking at him.

That had been two months ago. He'd only come by twice since.

"Yeah, well, he promised to hang out with his girlfriend, so …"

Mary groaned, shaking her head. "God, I can't stand that girl."

Damon had had the audacity to bring her into their home once. When they'd first begun dating and Bonnie was pissed at him. She'd only just learned about it, and Damon had attempted to have them be friends. But that evening, the friend-stealer had made it clear to Bonnie that she had no intentions of sharing, all but whipping her golden blond hair in Bonnie's face.

"Me either," Bonnie grumbled, scooping a pile of rice a little too hard and flinging grains onto the table.

"You know she sees you as a threat, right? That's why she's trying to keep Damon away."

"Mayb—" Dropping her spoon into the box, Bonnie groaned against the intrusion in her sore brain. Damon's voice whispered in a fuzzy frequency she'd kept muted.

Bonnie, answer me, she heard just before blocking him out.

Pushing her fingers into her temples, she rubbed them.

"Are you ok?"

"Mhmm." Bonnie squeezed her eyes tighter, focusing on keeping the channel closed. But he was pounding on the link between them, fighting against her barricades.

"Is it Damon?"

Ever since the kitsune and all the weird things that had happened in Fell's, her sister had been more attuned to her own psychic side. Damon had offered to influence her like they'd done most of the town, but Bonnie refused. Mary wasn't one to meddle with things she didn't understand. She knew that something was different when it came to Damon and his relationship with her little sister. But she'd never asked to know more, even when she saw the leftover marks on Bonnie's wrists where Damon sometimes bit. Mary was content in her ignorance.

But even with her sister's awareness, Bonnie shook her head. "No. Just a headache."

When her eyes opened, she caught the remnants of Mary's suspicion in the pinch between her brows.

Bonnie took another bite.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Ice crawled up her spine, rendering her motionless. Mary jumped up from the table.

No. No, he wouldn't …